Tag: trains

It’s strange: I did really enjoy this movie while watching it, and felt entertained immediately afterwards. But by the time I got home, the good stuff was already fading, and I was left with a lot of improbable plotting and endless images of Liam Neeson walking up and down train cars, having uninteresting and random conversations with people. There’s no character development, and the jeopardy is so completely unlikely. In *Speed* for example, which this film tries to be but isn’t, it makes sense in-story for the bomber to know everything Keanu Reeves does. (The bomber is watching everything on camera.) Here, we never actually understand the Phone Woman’s magical powers — it’s never addressed. And how exactly is she caught? I must have missed the work done to find her.

So, pop quiz, Hotshot: is this *Speed* wannabe movie also trying to piggyback off *Murder on the Orient Express*? The mystery is so lackluster that I’m a little lost. Even the big action set-pieces sort of lagged.

Honestly, I liked this at the theater, before I sat and thought about it too much. At least Qui-Gon-Jin still has a great voice and calm demeanor, but I think it’s time for him to stop being an action hero. It’s not his age, but the lack of intensity. Neeson isn’t the best choice for an action hero, even in B movies.